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From imperial suzerainty to absolutist sovereignty: the transformation of the state system in the Holy Roman and Ottoman empires

FROM IMPERIAL SUZERAINTY TO ABSOLUTIST SOVEREIGNTY: THE
TRANSFORMATION OF THE STATE SYSTEM IN THE HOLY ROMAN AND
OTTOMAN EMPIRES
by
Mehmet Sinan Birdal
A Dissertation Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
(INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS)
December 2008
Copyright 2008 Mehmet Sinan Birdal

Two prevailing approaches in international relations neo-realism and constructivism emphasize the role of material capabilities or ideas in the systemic change. Alternatively, this dissertation focuses on the change and the persistence of domestic institutions of states that turn material and ideational capabilities into power in the state system. It introduces the sociological theories of early modern state formation and neo-institutional economics, to study the adaptation process of medieval empires to the modern state system characterized by the absolutist sovereign territorial states. In this context, it selects the Holy Roman Empire and the Ottoman Empire in the 16th and 17th centuries as comparative case studies. It investigates the adaptation of the two empires to the survival imperatives of the state system in four domains: administration, taxation, conduct of foreign policy and political legitimation. The institutional persistence of the universal empire as a model made it harder for both states to adapt to the modern state system based on the mutual recognition of sovereignty. However, the differences in the organizational principles embodied in political institutions and the legitimating principles expressed in legal discourse led to a divergence in the evolution in both states. The survival imperatives of the state system exacerbated the waning of central political authority in the Holy Roman Empire and led to the emergence of various territorial states including the Habsburg absolutist state which became one of the great powers in the 18th and 19th centuries. In contrast, the Ottoman Empire was far more centralized than any of the 16th century European states. However, strong imperial institutions made it harder for the Ottomans to adapt to the state system. Facing the challenges of the territorial state as the dominant unit of the state system the Ottoman Empire failed to reform its political institutions in order to increase its competitiveness.

FROM IMPERIAL SUZERAINTY TO ABSOLUTIST SOVEREIGNTY: THE
TRANSFORMATION OF THE STATE SYSTEM IN THE HOLY ROMAN AND
OTTOMAN EMPIRES
by
Mehmet Sinan Birdal
A Dissertation Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
(INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS)
December 2008
Copyright 2008 Mehmet Sinan Birdal